


steady living

by doofusface



Series: swingin' feelin' [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: (Ish) - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Graduation, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, Life Snippets, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 02:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13940910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doofusface/pseuds/doofusface
Summary: Shuri proceeds to spend the rest of the day giving him and Michelle finger guns every time she catches them smiling at each other.Which is a lot.He needs new friends.





	steady living

**Author's Note:**

> tis the end of the series! it's been fun.
> 
> welcome to the end of senior year!

“C’mon Spider-Dweeb, we’ve got class in ten, and if you go overtime I’m letting you fend for yourself,” Michelle deadpans into the comms. They’re two months away from graduating, and she is _not_ enjoying the sudden resurgence of alien tech robberies. How dare these criminals be criminals so close to graduation.

Ned’s beside her on Peter’s bed, checking the clock on his laptop obsessively. “I’ve got a test first period, so same boat. Sorry, Peter.”

“ _I’m all out of ideas here—_ ”

“Shocker,” Michelle comments.

“ _—and Compton is gonna kill me faster than this guy if I skip class again. You guys got anything?_ ”

“Give me…” Ned mumbles, typing furiously. “There! If you send in the drone, my virus is ready.”

Michelle starts to pack up their things—loose papers filled with articles on the robber with alien tech, photographs of said bad guy, and Peter’s half-finished physics homework. She hears Peter _whoop_ , and Ned’s very final sounding _click_ signaled the end of yet another early morning roundup.

She needed new friends.

And _way_ more tea.

* * *

Ned ends up acing his test, and Peter carries Michelle’s books for the rest of the day as penance.

Ned wonders if they’ll ever like, _be official_ , since they haven’t really done anything other than semi-openly make heart-eyes at each other for the past two weeks, but he’s used to their snail’s pace by now.

Like, he _hates_ it, but he’s used to it.

Whatever. Betty asked him out yesterday and he’s gonna leave his friends in the dust of relationship goals by this time next week.

Maybe _that_ ’ll nudge ‘em.

* * *

Shuri’s back in town with her brother and his wife for the weekend, and straight up demands to be taken with them on a normal outing. Peter’s still a little jealous that Michelle let her skip straight to “MJ” name basis after two weeks, but that could be because her brother’s King T’Challa.

Also, her tech saved his life.

So.

They all start Monday late in the day with their senior schedules, so they drag Shuri out to Broadway shows and halal food in midtown Manhattan over the weekend, all of which she is happy to cover them on. She wears a disguise of “normal broke teenager” the whole time, provided by Michelle, and her voice is masked by an improved Stark-made gadget.

“I added some upgrades—it shifts easier now, less catching and harder to reverse-engineer—but I still want to tweak it,” she explains, after Peter brings up that it’s Tony’s gift to her last time he visited California.

Ned offers to help with ideas, and they move behind Peter and Michelle as the four walk around the city, chatting about different accents and intonations. At the intersection of 42nd and 3rd, Peter notices them hush up. He turns to find them giving him and Michelle inquisitive looks.

 _What?_ he mouths. Beside him, Michelle readjusts the book in her hands. She was always proactive about stealing chances to continue reading.

Shuri gives him a _look_ , raising her brows and pouting, as if to say, _Like you don’t know, Peter Parker_.

Ned’s offering is a little more obvious, a smirk-smile with a knowing squint.

Peter turns stiffly back around, ignoring them, and ignoring his senses going absolutely _haywire_. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Michelle squint at her book, as if trying to hear their silent conversation.

She lowers the tome, taking a step forward onto the crosswalk. Her elbow nudges Peter as she passes by him. “Light’s green, nerds.”

* * *

Shuri proceeds to spend the rest of the day giving him and Michelle finger guns every time she catches them smiling at each other.

Which is a lot.

He needs new friends.

* * *

Ned realizes Betty can’t really handle the whole Spider-Man side of his life, and he lets her down gently.

Michelle gives him a noogie when she finds out, ‘cause _that tough, dude_. She and Peter exchange a look when he shows up, and even though Ned tries to reassure them that there’s plenty of cool girls who’ll think he’s cool, and he’s _totally fine, stop smothering me_ , they keep a steady eye on him anyway.

Ned’s especially annoyed that this somehow makes them more careful about the shared wistful glances, because he really _is_ fine, but _those two_ aren’t, and it’s so.

 _Freakin’_.

 _Tiring_.

* * *

Michelle’s highly aware that Ned knows something about what happened in the med bay.

Peter’s also aware, though not as highly, and is too afraid to do anything about it now that he’s not at death’s door.

Ned’s _exhausted_ , because he thought they were finally over this, and mulls over creating an evil robot to scare Peter _just enough_ into making a move.

* * *

“ _What_ ,” Michelle deadpans after decathlon practice on Tuesday. Peter keeps giving her this weird look that _isn’t_ the _I worship the ground you walk on_ one, and it’s driving her insane because it’s a new one she can’t pinpoint. Lack of sleep because of... _things_ , is making her snappier, to boot.

Peter purses his lips, thinking, but keeps his mouth shut.

Michelle sighs heavily. “Peter, seriously, I have like, zero tolerance right now. Stop being weird, and jus—”

“Are we dating?” he blurts out, eyes squinted and head tilted. “I’m, uh, I’m totally cool if we’re not, but I’m also gonna be _super_ confused, ‘cause I’m _pretty sure_ we—” he gestures to himself and her in a vague fashion.

“If you’re gonna say ‘declared our love’ or something equally cheesy, I wanna point out that _I_ said ‘I love you’, but _you_ mummed something under your oxygen mask that no man, alien, or A.I. will ever decipher,” Michelle replies, arms crossed. She’s grinning defiantly, fighting the blush from creeping in. _I said it and I’m going to own it_ , she schools herself. _Get it together, MJ._

Peter grins lopsidedly, because he can. “That’s fair.”

Michelle nods once.

“MJ?”

She tilts her head, ever so slightly.

“Michelle Jones.” Peter smiles so wide she’s sure it’s spreading to her own lips. “I love you. Please don’t pre-dump me.”

“You’re stupid, Stupid,” she replies, grabbing his hand. Their fingers intertwine on instinct, like they’re just _meant_ to be that way.

“I was really out of it for a couple weeks,” he adds after a while, using his free hand to rub the back of his neck. “I wasn’t sure if I heard _you_ — _say_ —y’know.”

(Michelle honestly assumed he was taking it slow—again—but what with the block the size of a school desk hitting him on the head a few weeks ago, this made a lot more sense.)

He walks her home and she kisses him two blocks away, at the deli, and again before she unlocks the door to her house.

Just ‘cause.

* * *

Ned decides Michelle’s alignment is (surprisingly) Lawful Neutral. She manages to keep Peter from committing PDA violations in the hallway, which is already a superpower all things considered.

“I’m not getting detention on my record _six weeks to graduation_ because of you,” she says, nudging her boyfriend.

(Boyfriend! Ned was so excited to hear about it that he almost crushed them with a bear hug that morning.)

“I literally can’t focus, MJ,” Peter argues; he’s fidgeting beside her, nervous energy threatening to have him jump up on the ceiling and stick to it.

Ned’s wondering how he kept it together for so long without exploding. Peter’s spider-senses are crazy, and even with practice the suit did most of the work zoning out the rest of the world.

Michelle shrugs, smirking. “Tough.”

* * *

Michelle brings it up because he sees her after helping an old man get onto the subway platform by the 7 train, and tries to sneak a kiss when she passes an empty street. It’s been more than a week of this weird dance, juggling his secret identity who is openly dating her and his worldwide known superhero self who is _not_.

“Peter, seriously, you gotta pick _one_ , man,” Michelle huffs. “Do you know how bad it’ll look if the paparazzi got a shot of Spider-Man kissing someone’s girlfriend?”

“I...didn’t think of that.” The eyes on his suit squint, and she’s sure he’s pouting behind it.

“Yeah, like, they’re probably gonna blame me, because sexism, but I bet the _Bugle_ would be blessed to have tainting Spidey content for once.”

“So,” Peter starts carefully, “who would you rather…?”

She watches him fidget. Sometimes she forgets he’s still another insecure teenager. _Who would you rather be kissing?_

 _Who would you rather be_ with _?_

“I personally prefer unreliable Decathlon teammates,” she says plainly, straightening her back. “The nice ones with weird eyebrows.”

(If she sees Peter buckle a bit, she doesn’t say anything about it.)

He begrudgingly waves as she walks away, watching her tug her backpack back into place as she walks down the street.

* * *

Ned can’t believe Michelle picks Peter over Spider-Man, and when he voices his opinion to his best friend it feels like déjà vu when he replies with a quiet, insulted, “ _Dude._ ”

Michelle snorts in the background, turning a page to mask the sound. “I’ve taught you well.”

Ned gives her a thumbs up. “Thank you Obi-Wan.”

Peter justs balks. “ _Betrayal_.”

* * *

Michelle finally remembers to send Shuri a picture of _them_. It’s Peter’s surprised face right after he takes off his mask, and she’s up front, smug-as-all smile, holding up their clasped hands.

 _Tell your brother if he tries to throw Peter off a building when he visits, I will personally kick his royal behind_. _-MJ_

(In T’Challa’s defense, it was when Thanos pulled a little mind-control trick, so no harm no foul.)

“Brother!” Shuri yells to the man behind her. He’s going to hate losing this bet. “You owe me funding for that new project of mine!”

* * *

May’s known since the day it started, but that doesn’t stop her excitement every time Michelle comes over. Peter doesn’t complain, because those are the days May buys pizza from around the corner—the place where they know their names and orders after going there once. It’s great.

They always sit and talk together, and Ned likes to crash when he’s not cramming a project he was supposed to do instead of, say, hacking the Spider-Man suit. Again.

“I’m so happy for you,” May keeps saying. “Seriously. And _so_ happy for _me_ , because that was worse than the soaps Mrs. An next door keeps insisting to watch with me.”

“You like those,” Peter says.

“There’s an inevitability to soap operas, Peter,” she replies.

“Hey, nice,” Michelle quips, her hand holding Peter’s under the table, “the universe is actually pretty good about inevitability, huh?”

He smiles. Their fingers intertwine and it’s comfy and _right_.

(Ned’s on the couch, already gearing up to figure out what movie they’re watching. He keeps peeking over, because he _knows_ they’re about to do something sappy.)

Peter pecks her lips randomly, catching _her_ off-guard for once. “Yeah.”

(Ned fist pumps.)

* * *

Sometimes, there are nightmares.

Everyone who _knows_ Peter knows about _his_ nightmares, or at least that they must exist, because he’s not always out til two on a school night, and even if he is he never looks so... _despondent_.

So yeah, everyone kind of assumes and understands Peter gets nightmares.

They just forget sometimes his girlfriend and best friend do, too.

Because sometimes Michelle goes to bed and _it’s_ suddenly on loop—the voicemail, the muffled, agonizing cries and quick breathing that accompanies it. Peter’s voice going higher because it’s _shock_ —she knows what it sounds like because she learned first aid after freshman year, when she was starting to suspect his double life.

And sometimes Ned is glum and inconsolable at school, and no promises of _Star Wars_ marathons can get his mood up. He’s notoriously an all-or-nothing kind of guy, so when he’s up, he’s _up_ , but when he’s down, it makes you wonder why the world is still spinning. He never talks about it, but watching him fidget with Peter’s suit obsessively during his sullen days is pretty much a grave marker to anyone who needs a guess.

So yeah. Sometimes there are nightmares. And sometimes there aren’t. But if you’re eighteen and already intertwining your threads of fate with a spunky superhero who can’t keep his mouth shut in a fight, you should probably get someone to talk to.

Sometimes it’s Michelle and Ned tossing a basketball between the two of them, saying something about it.

“I can’t move my feet or arms, but he’s two feet away and then—” she tosses the ball.

“His suit malfunctions and Karen’s out of commission completely because of an upgrade I thought would work, and then—”

Back it goes.

“Remember that video? Where he gets knocked down by Thanos?”

Ned nods.

“It’s that, but no one gets to him in time.”

 _Toss_.

“When he called me after the Scorpion attacked, but I didn’t answer because I was still mad at him.”

 _Toss_.

“When he tried to talk me into helping him with the Lizard, but I stayed behind for Decathlon instead of following my gut.”

 _Toss_.

“He was pretty solid about telling me he didn’t like you like that, and I woke up crying ‘cause I thought we were back to square one.”

Michelle laughs at that one. There’s always at least _one_ weird-sad dream to break the tension, and she’s glad for it. “Was this before or after Doc Ock?”

“After,” Ned replies grimly, obviously upset about it. “I called Peter up at 3am to ask him if you guys were still together and made _him_ worry that he’d imagined all of it.”

“Oh, I remember that,” Michelle realizes, eyes widening. “He called me up before school to ask if I still wanted him to walk me. So that was _your_ fault.”

Ned frowns. “My subconscious isn’t really controllable, okay.”

“Mm, you said that about your love for sneakers, and look how much better you are at not buying them.”

Ned’s frown deepens, and he’s about to retort when Peter walks in, carrying food from Delmar’s. He looks so happy and so whole and so _alive_ , that Ned and Michelle can’t help the (sappy) group hug they find themselves in with two seconds.

“Uh,” Peter muffles out, mouth obstructed by Michelle’s hair and Ned’s shoulder. “I really like these sandwiches, too, but—”

“Shut up and take the hug, Peter,” Michelle whispers. _Whispers_. It comes out softer than intended and it betrays something, but he hugs them back nonetheless.

* * *

Peter does a double take.

Then a quadruple one.

He’s not sure if his old concussion back or not, but something wild is happening and he’s not sure if it’s real.

“Dude,” Ned gasps, fighting back a laugh. “Is MJ wearing a Spider-Man shirt?”

Okay, cool. Coolcoolcool _cool_. Not dreaming.

“Ned,” Peter replies breathlessly. “If I hurt her, murder me.”

“Do I have to swear on that?”

Peter nods fervently.

Ned swears on it.

“I love her so much, Ned.”

“Dude, jaw, floor. I’m totally cool with all the love in the air, but Midtown’s floors are _nasty_.” Ned nudges his buddy before Michelle catches him staring, then remembers _it’s MJ, she definitely caught him staring_.

As if on cue, she walks over and ruffles Peter’s hair—one of her allowable displays of affection. “Sup, losers.”

“I love you so much,” Peter repeats. The shirt’s simple, just a distressed illustration of his Spider-Man mask and some punk-looking web graphics around it.

Michelle tries not to do something too obvious like smile, or kiss him. The shirt was a gift from her sister, and she _knew_ Peter would get frazzled over it. She can’t think of anything to say for once, so she turns to Ned instead. “Too easy.”

“Peter’s middle name,” Ned replies.

The aforementioned boy hugs his girlfriend, rules ignored. “‘s a fr’nd ‘ug,” he says into her shoulder.

She buckles, because he’s being really cute, and it’s very hard to enforce rules when Peter’s at Peak Clingy. “You have two seconds, but I love you, too. Nerd.”

(Ned sees Principal Morita exit his office and _pries_ Peter away from Michelle before they get in trouble, and is given his thanks after school when she hands him the remote and forgoes her turn at picking the movie.)

* * *

“Oh look at that,” Michelle smirks, letting her middle finger rise slowly. “A royal bird for a royal pain in the—”

“—Oookay,” Ned cuts in, trying to diffuse the situation. “Let’s like, not try to anger the big scary dude with a big scary gun.”

Michelle keeps her smirk up, but concedes on the “flipping off” thing.

They’re grateful to be stuck in a separate room from the other Decathlon members; justifying their lack of fear of death would be a hard sell for anyone.

After all, how would they be able to explain they weren’t afraid because they knew Spider-Man was, once again, in D.C.?

Or, perhaps, above Thug #1’s head?

“Aw, dude, kinda mean to pick on defenseless teenagers, don’t ya think?” Peter quips from above the man holding the rifle. “I’ll take that.”

Web shoots out and ruins the point of having a gun in seconds, causing Thug #1 to rethink his life choices as Peter sticks _him_ to the opposite wall as his weapon. “Might I suggest a new career path?”

Thug #1 yells something under the webbing, and his tone suggests one of the choicest of curses.

Peter makes a show of covering Michelle’s ears and gasping. “There’s a _lady_ in the room!”

She kicks his shin, because she can.

Peter takes the hint, untying both of them and throwing a new, mini tracker spider at the criminal. His suit’s eyes squint, and the grin’s heard in his voice. “Don’t try to get rid of that, it gets cranky when it knows its not wanted. Say hi to the police for me! And remember! Guns suck!”

(He makes quick work of the rest of the museum robbers, sending out enough spider-trackers to make Ned question if he hasn’t already become the Broodmother.)

By the time they get home from the trip with their third-straight Decathlon championship under their belts, Michelle’s beyond convinced that there _has_ to be some super-secret conspiracy going on, because _no one_ has guessed that Peter’s Spider-Man in the last three years except for her.

Peter pats her head as she lays in his lap after dinner, because she was pacing and he knows it frustrates her.

“Maybe no one wants it to be Peter ‘cause he’s _just_ Peter,” Ned comments, eliciting an offended look from He Who Is Spider-Man. “What? You’re not exactly the coolest kid in school.”

“You two need to stop hanging out,” Peter says to Michelle. “You made him mean.”

“I only amplify that which already exists,” Michelle replies almost immediately. Her face turns thoughtful. “Huh. Maybe that’s why no one’s got it, yet. I made them more oblivious.”

“So you _do_ have a superpower,” Ned jokes, elated.

“She’s also great at wearing my clothes better than me,” Peter adds, looking over to Ned on his spot on the floor.

“If I didn’t care so little about looking better than everyone else, I could’ve become a model,” Michelle muses absentmindedly. “That’s _way_ too much work, though, and I’d rather read abou—”

“Peter. Jaw,” Ned says pointedly.

Michelle laughs from her spot under Peter’s jaw, tugging his face down for a kiss. “Dork.”

* * *

Graduation’s a blur; it’s way too many people in the gym, and when Tony shows up and brings the paparazzi with him, it just gets worse.

(At least Flash is finally, _finally_ put in his place when Tony calls Peter by his first name and a “Kid,” comment that marks him as family. Peter’s excessively glad he doesn’t have to deal with Flash anymore, what with him heading to _Not Anywhere Near Us So I Didn’t Bother To Remember The Name, EST. 1896_ )

May’s a little apprehensive with the whole idea of him being in a different state and still not giving up Spider-Man activities, especially in a decidedly shorter city than Manhattan. Peter’s still bummed about leaving her alone, actually, but Tony’s promised to leave her with a lowkey security detail and it helps.

Michelle, the logical one, has already had him visiting Cambridge as Spider-Man for the last month or so of senior year, with Tony’s help. She’s mostly disappointed at not thinking of doing it sooner, so it was less conspicuous, but sometimes your best friend almost dies for real and you’ve gotta deal with some _other_ things first, okay?

Ned and Peter are terrible audience members, making faces at Michelle as she delivers her valedictorian speech. She flips them off with nothing short of secret affection when everyone present is too distracted cheering and throwing their hats into the air.

“ _Freedom_ ,” Ned revels as he walks out the gym doors.

“On to at _least_ four years of dealing with spoiled legacy kids,” Michelle says, putting an arm around him and another on Peter. Her boyfriend scoots over, wrapping an arm around her waist and smooching her cheek, because they’re _done_ and PDA rules don’t matter out here.

“Four years of building super cool stuff,” Peter grins. “And _internships_.”

Ned hauls them both forward, marking a path through the crowd. He redirects them, re-entering the school from a side entrance—back to the cafeteria. “I’m gonna miss this place,” he breathes, finally letting go. He jogs over to _their_ table, running a hand over their usual seats.

Michelle sniffles. She’s allowed to be nostalgic today, she reasons, breathing out with a shake and forcing those pesky beads of saltwater back into her tear ducts where they belong. “I’m kinda surprised we made it. Or, well, that _you_ made it,” she says, turning to Peter, “but also I had _total_ faith in you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome, nerd.” She slumps into her seat, gesturing for the two of them to sit with her. They do.

The three of them sit there in silence, the gravity of leaving this school, this city, finally weighing down on them. Peter leans on Michelle, head on her shoulder and left hand in her right, humming. She plays with his hair with her other hand, eyes on the glass separating them from the hallway they used to pass everyday. Ned twirls in his seat, taking in the eerily empty cafeteria in its full, sub-par glory.

It’s a little overwhelming, to be honest.

Ned clears his throat. “I—”

 _Buzz_. _Buzz buzz_.

Peter blinks, hand raising his Shuri-sanctioned wristwatch—a gift given to all the Avengers after the Thanos Incident, programmed for detecting threats in their immediate vicinity and relaying worldwide threats. A hologram pops out, showing data and a map with a red pin.

“Chinatown?” Michelle asks.

Ned starts getting up. “That’s far. We can bust into the computer lab here.”

“Technically that’s _also_ illegal,” Michelle blanks, causing him to pull out his phone to find an alternative. She starts to stand as well, pulling Peter with her. “You’re up, hotshot.”

“You think I’m hot?” Peter says it so teasingly that both she and Ned _know_ he’s been waiting to use it for at least two weeks.

Michelle’s having none of it. “Flatter yourself on your own time, loser.”

“We’ll hitch with Tony and get to your place,” Ned announces, looking up from his phone. “Should get there by the time you arrive, maybe sooner.”

Michelle gives Peter a small smile, pulling him in for a short, purposeful kiss. “Start swinging.”

He does.

And it feels _wonderful._

**Author's Note:**

> wanted to shove in as many fun chill things for fun ;) 
> 
> 20 points and a drabble for whomsoever guesses why exactly michelle was snappy in That Part
> 
> yes, broodmother was a dota reference
> 
> kudos n' comments appreciated though not required. thanks for the fun run, fam :) God bless!


End file.
